awards and we will post all of them on the internet as well as hopefully make them available on s.f. government tv. you will have a chance to hear from the wins wynners. we're going to try to consolidate the program and do the second half in the reception. which brings up the fact once again we have the amazing st. john event doing our food in the north light court. so, at the conclusion of this evening's event we ask you all join us in the north light court to enjoy a wonderful selection of food and wine and drinks. i'd also like to take a moment, of course, and thank mayor lee for once again extending the invitation to host the event here as well at city hall as well as our new city administrator naomi kelly who will be making remarks here promptly in a little bit. and thank them for their generous hospitality not only 230er this event but for this program because without their leadership and support the neighborhood department network would not exist. i'd also like to thank the folks at the city hall events team who every year make this event come together and make it a success. in addition, i'd like to also

thank our sponsors. * once again, pg&e the fifth year in a row stepped up and become a major sponsor here for the neighborhood empowerment network. we have two new event sponsors this year. we have next door, which is a new online program here in san francisco, new neighborhood service which many of people in this room are using. you'll have more chance to hear from this if you advise the the life night court event. sterling bank, one of the great local banks we have here in san francisco. without further ado we'd like to begin tonight's program and we're going to start off with a message from mayor ed lee. >> good evening, everyone, and welcome to the fifth annual neighborhood empowerment network awards. while i'm unable to attend this year's event, i want to express my deep appreciation to tonight's award recipients for the extraordinary work and service that they provide to our cities, neighborhoods every day. all of the award recipients

share one common goal. and that is to ensure that san francisco continues to be the best place to live, visit, and do business. i am proud to be the mayor of a city where residents and civic leaders are partners and work together to tackle challenges and find innovative solutions to keep our neighborhoods world class. thank you for attending this important event, and thank you to the neighborhood empowerment network for your dedication and commitment to our neighborhoods. keep up the great work and have a wonderful evening here at the nen awards. (applause) >> the first award we're going to be presenting tonight is an award that for many people is an award that is one of the top highlights of the event, and that is an opportunity to induct someone into the nen hall of fame. the hall of fame is an opportunity to take a moment

and celebrate the lifetime of the contribution that an individual has made to our city and perhaps just seize the opportunity perhaps if they haven't been highlight and had elevated for that contribution here in city hall in the rotunda to do so. this year's nen hall of fame inductee is bernice. [speaker not understood] to talk more about her contributions to the city. jen? (applause) >> hi, my name is jennifer banta and i am proud to nominate bernice beng to the nen hall of fame. bernice being was a visionary artist. she was born, raised, educated and worked in san francisco. * bing. she graduated from the first mfa class of the san francisco art institute in 1961.

she was good friends with joan brown and jay de feo. shes what an integral part of the art scene in north beach. she was also part of the first argot lin artist's in residence program in 1967 and spent the better part of the '70s deeply devote today community arts and activism. she was part of the founding member of scrap, and she was involved with the neighborhood arts program during its insanction. -- inception. she went on to found the san francisco cultural arts center and she is the first director. i am excited to share with you i'm working with the asian american women artists association and film maker madelein limb to bring you the world of bernice bing, a documentary we're working on now about her life and work and it's going to premiere in june of 2013. thank you so much for this honor. it's long overdue.

(applause) (applause) >> good evening. it's an honor to accept this award on behalf of the bernice bing estate. thank you. (applause) ♪ ♪

♪ >> again, congratulations. now we'd like to make a slight modification in our program this evening and we're going to be moving to the award for best merchant association of the year, the lower haight merchant association. i'd like to invite walking tours up and the mayor's office of economic development. our newest supervisor, supervisor london breed. let's give him a round of applause. (applause) ♪ ♪ >> hi, are you going to speak first or me? >> you, please. >> hi, everybody. i'm so happy to be here to celebrate this -- what is it, the neighborhood empowerment network awards. this is like the fifth year that this has happened and i remember just about two years ago when the divisadero corridor received the same award. so, it is truly an honor to be here as the district 5

supervisor. the neighborhood i live in, to see many of the people i know, they're all sitting in the front row. i see you, joe, from john mere pierre from the meat store and pierre was front and center when that fire happened on walgreens on fillmore and haight and getting those people out. thea shelby who has been working really hard, one of the founders of the lower haight merchant and neighborhood associations. she has been a tireless advocate in this area for public safety. i'm so happy to see you here. devon, the new president and thea has served as the president for the past two years, and devon is now taking over as the new president. and wing-wings, wing-wings, one of my favorite places. lisa is here from wing-wings, and dick, one of my favorite people from the lower haight, i am so happy to see you all here. i wanted to just come and congratulate. is there someone else here?

oh, robert, hi, sweety. he's always there for you. he's amazing guy. and thank you all so much for being here. i'm just here as the supervisor, my first event to honor you, to support you, to thank you for not just being in the neighborhood, but really opening up your doors and caring about the neighborhood. caring about what happens to the people there, caring about what happens to the businesses, not just your own business, but all the businesses. i love the lower haight because it's like a family. it's a real community. it's an amazing place to eat. it's amazing place to shop. it's amazing place to be. and you are so deserving of this award. and i couldn't be proud eras district 5 supervisor and also as a resident of the lower haight. so, thank you and congratulations on your award. and i'm just here to actually crash the event, to just say congratulations because you all are some of my favorite people in this district. thank you very much. (applause)

>> can i leave or you want me to stay? >> oh, stay. supervisor breed, thank you so much for being here. it's always a pleasure and it is a great mesh tower stand on this stage with you in your new position as supervisor of district 5. it's a great honor always to be able to recognize the incredible work that is a.m. done by people throughout our city who really do the work once all of us from the city and our partners leave the stage, as it were, because as the supervisor mentioned, once we're gone, we need other people to pick it up and make sure our streets are active, that people feel safe, people feel comfortable. our next award recipient, the lower hate and merchants neighborhood association is one of those incredible partners like so many of you here tonight that is truly deserving of this award. it was gibe ons, the head wig of the wig party in san francisco that nominated this organization. i would like to invite morgan to come up now and make a few remarks. * he's making sure san francisco

remains san francisco. and, so, morgan, please come on up to the stage. (applause) >> thank you very much. my name is morgan fits gibbons. it is one of my favorite organizations here in the city. it is the third year in a row i'm nominated the winner. last year was divisadero corridor. that might help us get one of these awards in the future. what do you think, daniel? [laughter] >> this year we're proud to give the award for best merchant association to lower haight merchant and neighborhood association a.k.a. lo hamna, rolls off the tongue. [laughter] >> it's truly a great organization. we in our capacity, we work a lot with different neighborhood associations, different merchant associations. and far and away the lower haight merchants association is one of the best we had the pleasure to work with. that holds for always, but this

past year was a really remarkable year for the organization. they dealt with some challenges, notably the water and fire, some public safety concerns. and they also had some success he. they have art walks really successful art walks four times a year. but then there's always another street fair happening. it's really, you know, we can celebrate their achievements, but it's really the spirit with which they do their work, the passion and the creativity and the sense of community and bringing people to the table to figure out what's best for everybody that really lets them stand above the rest. so, bring up the award recipients. congratulate to the lower haight neighborhood association on their 2012 award. (applause) ♪

>> i just want to say a few quick words. we do a great job in the lower haight. and i'm sure any other local or merchant association, you guys can do it as well. and if you need any input on anything, from crime in your neighborhood to how to do an art walk or event, just please contact the lower haight or haighter's nation and you can get in touch with either thea, dick, myself, or devon, joe, lisa, any one of us. so, please feel free to contact us. we'll be more than happy to help you, okay. >> thank you. (applause) >> thank you.

♪ >> and next i'd like to introduce a gentleman who needs no introduction here, especially in this room, but the director for the department of public works for the city and county of san francisco, mr. clean man, robin nu for our next award. (applause) >> how is everyone doing? good. >> are we excited? yeah. >> all right, thank you. first of all, congratulations to all the awardees and to nen for doing such a great job. it is very, very important to honor all the people who are working hard to make our city be the beautiful and greener city it can be. big hand to all of you. (applause) >> all right. so, i'm up here to present the

graffiti-watch volunteer award and the graffiti watch program is a program that started about four years ago. over 300 people enrolled in the program, and about 180 of very, very active people,. very, very active means those people go take time out of their busy day to go remove graffiti and make san francisco be graffiti-free. and in that 180 there are very, very few that get up early in the morning, early -- i mean, 3:00, 4 o'clock to go and make sure the neighborhood is clean before everybody wakes up to see a nice clean street or nice clean wall. and the awardee tonight and the winner is larry win ham, if he would come up and receive his award. a big thank you to him. [cheering and applauding] ♪

>> congratulations, larry. * >> well, i don't know about 3:00 or 4 o'clock, but -- [laughter] >> that's a little too early. just like to keep our neighborhood clean and just somebody once said the difference between art and graffiti is permission. [laughter] (applause) >> congratulations. ♪ >> our next award will be the most empowering city employee award. and i'd like to invite the city administrator for the city and county of san francisco naomi kelly to introduce this award. (applause)

>> good evening, everyone. thank you for coming out this evening. it is my honor to just thank all of you and all of the award winners for all of the great work that you do in the community. you are the nuts and bolts of san francisco. you are what makes us resilient, which makes us -- which gives us character. and, so, we appreciate all of you. these awards are important and they're an important opportunity for all of us at city hall to make a moment and salute the people and organizations that work hard every day to make our neighborhoods the very best that they are. so, i have the distinct pleasure to introduce one of my most favorite people, city employees here in san francisco. y'all just heard from mr. clean, and that's who we affectionally call the director of dpw mohammed nuru. and he has a right hand and

that right hand, her name is sandra zanega. it doesn't matter what neighborhood you're in, you can call either one of them and they will tell you what's going on. they know what's going on in that neighborhood and they know the pumps of what's going on in that neighborhood. not only do they reach out to every neighborhood association, merchant association, but they also work hard with the corporate sponsors to make sure that they are committed to our neighborhoods, to making sure that they are clean, that the graffiti is removed, that the dumping is taken away, that we have vibrant commercial corridors, vibrant commercial -- vibrant neighborhoods, and i couldn't be more pleased that she is the most important city employee for this year in empowering neighborhoods. i will also bring up a woman by the name of fran martin to come speak about sandra. (applause)

>> my name is fran martin. i'm with the visitacion valley planning alliance and greenway project. i'm very proud and have the honor on behalf of many people in the city who nominated sandra for this award. i can't think of a better person for people from communities, from foundations, from the city staff have voted for this. and i can't think of a better person. sandra's always gone above and beyond the call of duty. she -- she's in charge of the street parks program and i'm involved with that kind of work in the city. she's also involved with the clean streets program. and she's also -- a lot of people don't know this -- a board member of the american community garden association. and she ran the show for this big huge conference we had this last august. i called her the hener lisa ma.

she's real a dine a moe and we're so lucky to have her in the city. * dynamo. so, i want to invite sandra up here as our most empowering city employee of the year. (applause) >> everybody here, sandra has touched all your lives. >> i'm truly honored. you guys are all wonderful to work with. i love the community. you know that. i'm allegation here for you. thank you so much for this honor. it's all about you guys. thank you so much. (applause) ♪ >> i'd now like to invite the supervisor for district 9, supervisor david campos, to represent the next award.

(applause) >> good evening, everyone. welcome to this beautiful building here at city hall, the people's building. and to help me present the next award, i'd like to ask an institution and the portal neighborhood, ruth wallace, if you could please come up. [cheering and applauding] >> it is, it is my honor, our honor to present today what i think is one of the most important ones. every award here is important. but we're recognizing the work of a young person, and i think that any time that we involve young people in this effort you know that not only are you making a difference today, but you're actually making a difference for the future. and on a side note, i'd have to say that i'm very proud as the district 9 supervisor, that includes the portola, because so many of the awards are going to that amazing neighborhood, the portola. [cheering and applauding]

>> i think the award here is the come back neighborhood. i'm so proud. anyway, let me talk about the following and i'll turn it over to ruth. this is our youth neighborhood leader award to jack ollenger. i don't know if jack can please stand and come up. let me tell you a little about jack. [cheering and applauding] >> jack ollenger, he is 12 years old. he's been a tremendous help to the portola garden tour. he has for quite sometime been helping to raise money for the scholarship program at ccsf. young jack ollenger has been in charge of the ralph at the end of the portola garden tour for at least two years now. the first year he was instrumental in that effort and sold many tickets and was able

to raise $495. (applause) >> yes, absolutely. and he is so impressive, he decided that he was going to do even more. so, he decided that in 2012 he would top his prior achievement and he actually raised another $830 for that effort. (applause) >> and, so, because of jack's efforts, we are going to have scholarships that will be paid for. you know, the fact that a young person is so committed and so dedicated to their neighborhood and to the city is something that we should all be very proud of and let's make sure that we have more jack ollengers. to that i will turn it over to ruth wallace. and by the way, i don't know what would be of the portola without ruth wallace. so, ruth, thank you so much for everything you do. (applause) >> thank you, david. well, i have the easiest job

because jack's biois the shortest. he's 12. he's done a great job. * because of him, he's actually helped us to finance the portola garden district scholarships at city college of san francisco. and will continue. thank you. (applause) >> jack? ah, come on. >> i don't think jack wants to say anything, but i think that jack just basically said that actions speak louder than words. so, thank you. (applause)♪ >> jack, are your parents or your family here? yep? so, if we could ask jack's family to please stand up and be recognized. because this is a family effort. [cheering and applauding] >> thank you very much. thank you. ♪

>> you can see the user bringing back the bow tie. without further ado, i'd like to introduce supervisor john avalos to introduce our next award. (applause) >> thank you, daniel. and thank you all for being here for this great, great event. it is my honor and bridge to help bring up the folks who are part of the outstanding neighborhood watch group, part of the nay street neighborhood watch of district 11. (applause) >> we can bring up linda cook and patricia de font. i am really, really proud of this neighborhood watch group. we had some really hard times back in 2008. we had a few homicides in the excelsior district, one that is very well known, the bologna

homicides. these tragedies are horrible if nothing else but to help communities organize. nay street neighbors really did that. they looked out for one another. they reached out. they created relationships where perhaps they didn't exist before. they looked at their neighborhood and thought, how can we make this neighborhood safer? and they've done amazing things. they've done greening, they planted last month scores of trees in the neighborhood. they brought the community together around garage sales. they actually are holding a market that has not been really a good neighbor in the area accountable to the neighborhood, which is an amazing feat. all of this is done because they love their neighborhood. they are inspired by community. that's what brings them together. so, i want to call up linda and -- linda cook and patricia de font. (applause)

>> now, they're both part of nay street neighbors. linda actually nominated the group, but i really think that they're worthy of coming together to be honored today. i want to thank you for your great service in the neighborhood and i look forward to working with you in all the years to come. >> thank you. >> thank you. (applause) >> john said almost everything i wanted to say. but i do want to thank specifically mohammed nuru because he's been incredible. his toehold, everyone. francis and john avalos' office, without her nobody would know what we were doing because she helps us with all of our fliers and everything that we need to do. john has been tireless. he comes to my house on fridays at 5:30 for meetings. he's a great, great supervisor and a champion for our district. and we're excited about this year. we're going to put in a park. we're going to do safety initiatives. we're looking for grant money for more beautification. if anybody is interested in starting a neighborhood watch and getting involved, call me

and i can help you get started. it's a great h